Accused in molesting case opts to stick with guilty plea

Rhiley Carlson facing sex charges involving girl who was 8 at the time

Friday brought yet another twist in a Kelowna case of sexual interference with a minor that has served up a series of twists and turns during the past year.

Jeremy Melvin Carlson, who is undergoing hormone treatment to transition to a women and is now known as Rhiley Carlson, did an about-face that shocked Judge Michelle Daneliuk and media in courtroom No. 8 at the Kelowna Law Courts.

In November 2017, Carlson pleaded guilty to sexual interference with a girl who was eight years old at the time of the alleged repeated offences in 2015 and 2016.

In September, Carlson applied to have her guilty plea withdrawn, arguing she had not been fully informed and the guilty plea was based on incomplete disclosure.

On Friday, the court was prepared to hear information about the withdrawal application and then take two days next week to collect more details and decide whether or not to grant it.

But Carlson’s decision to not continue with her bid for withdrawal of the guilty plea changed everything.

The change of mind means the November 2017 guilty plea to sexual interference stands.

Carlson is also charged with sexual assault. She has entered no plea on that charge.

The Crown and defence lawyers went off to the judicial case manager to ask for a continuation of sentencing and use of the Monday and Tuesday dates set aside for the withdrawal application for sentencing instead.

Outside the courtroom, The Okanagan Weekend asked defence lawyer Jacqueline Halliburn for the reason Carlson withdrew her application to have the guilty plea withdrawn.

Halliburn said the reason was in the court records. However, the reason was not revealed in the courtroom and Halliburn didn’t elaborate.

This case gained notoriety in April 2018 when Carlson appeared in court for a sentencing hearing and the reading of the victim-impact statement, and it became known he was undergoing hormone therapy to transition to a woman.

It was the mother of the molested girl who read the victim-impact statement that day in court.

The identity of the girl and her mother are protected by a court-ordered publication ban.

During the reading of the victim-impact statement, Judge Monica McParland dabbed a tear from her eye with a tissue.

Defence lawyer Halliburn characterized it as “crying” and said the judge scoffed when the defence called for a 90day intermittent jail term to be served over 20 weekends.

The Crown was seeking a jail sentence of up to 20 months with two years of probation.

Later that day, Carlson’s lawyer advised she wanted to apply to have the judge excused from the case for bias.

The story made national news as the crying judge case.

In August, the judge refused to excuse herself from the case, saying a demonstration of human compassion “does not amount to judicial bias.”

That means it will be McParland who will sentence Carlson when the case is next back in court.

Federal law requires that inmates with male genitalia serve their sentence in a men’s facility.